


This Little Thing We've Got

by charlotteof_denmark



Category: Halt and Catch Fire
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kinks, Platonic Relationships, Sad, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:23:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3954016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlotteof_denmark/pseuds/charlotteof_denmark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Exploring the relationship between Cameron and Joe. Lots of smut and character development.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one

He sat down across the table she was sitting at, not really realizing that he was there, smoking a cigarette and sipping on a soda. She wore black jeans and a t-shirt with the PBS logo on it. He lay down some papers and files that she needed to sign but he waited until she seemed less focused to hand them to her. Her eyes were red, but the iris was still the familiar green of when he first looked at her. It seemed so close to now, even though months had already passed.  
‘What?’ she said.

‘Um, just things you need to sign,’ he replied, startled.

She glanced at him for a quarter of a second, then the papers. ‘Later.’

‘Okay. Fine. Well I don’t have anything else to do and I’ll probably be heading home so...’

She nodded briefly.

There was an abrupt pause of key-tapping right as he was standing up.

‘Joe...’

‘Cameron?’

‘I just--’

He cut her, ‘Yes I can wait for you. Of course.’ his voice was so warm and kind. Everyone loved it when he spoke like that. She didn’t quite smile but the left side of her mouth twitched. She squished the cigarette on the table carelessly. Joe saw that she had added more rings to her fingers. He wondered why. He liked the rings though. They felt cold on his skin. Nothing was right for his skin. Every fabric was too rough. Joe wasn’t really sure if it was his scars that were too sensitive or if there was just something wrong with his body overall. There was always something wrong. Everything was okay when he was alone in his appartment, everything in order, just him, his thoughts, the air conditioning working. 

‘Do you know what I like about you?’ 

‘Hm.’

‘You won’t change for anyone. For anything.’

She looked at him quizzically. 

‘You’re one hundred percent genuine. No matter how many times I tell you to stop doing things, you don’t listen,’ he explained, grinning.

‘Okay... is this your way of saying you hate me?’ she laughed awkwardly.

‘I said, I like that about you. This is why I’ve kept up with you being here,’ he said.

She took a sip of her soda. ‘I know I’m kind of an asshole.’

‘You are sometimes. But you don’t hide it.’

Her smile suggested that she was forcing it in. He smiled back. He knew Cameron couldn’t take compliments.

‘Can you finish this thing tomorrow? We should get going. It’s past midnight,’ he warned.

Cameron sighed. ‘I guess.’

They packed her things, threw away cans, cigarette butts and food boxes. He wondered why everyone said she didn’t eat enough when she clearly ate all day long while working. It’s not like she was weak. Frail, yes, but definetly strong as anyone. Her mind was especially strong and sharp. That’s why he came to her in the first place. They drove into the night, while the rest of the world was still busy. It was Friday night, everyone going to parties, bars, clubs, or like them, just to bed. For the entire day his mind contained computers, machines, codes, money, and other cold lifeless things. Now he could think of the coziness of his home.  
Cameron didn’t. She didn’t have a ‘home’. There was nothing for her.  
Joe hummed an unknown melody while emptying his pockets in a drawer. All his keys and his wallet belonged there. Right from the start Cameron understand that nothing should be moved or messed up in his house. She’d slipped into a black tank top and sweatpants and she leaned on the bed before falling on it, half-lying down half-sitting up. 

‘Are we working tomorrow?’ she asked.

‘Not if we don’t want to.’ He walked toward the bed with a little smile, his shirt still halfway buttoned. 

While he bent down to kiss her neck once, then twice, she touched his forearms, which he never covered. They were soft and reassuring for some reason. He sat up to undo the rest of his shirt. She took off her own and sat back up to undo his pants. When he was completely stripped, he tried to take her pants off but he tickled her stomach and she started to laugh. Joe kissed her to make her stop. When he could feel her soft skinny legs he pulled one up over his hip and touched her center. She didn’t react much, but she could feel his erection on her abdomen and it bothered her that it wasn’t inside. His eyes never left her’s while he drew circles between her legs. 

‘Don’t say anything,’ he breathed.

She wasn’t planning on saying anything at all, but she bit her lower lip. The circles became more rapid, and it made her gasp a little bit, then she squealed and he looked like he was going to get angry. He groaled and suddenly pushed himself into her, without warning, grabbing her leg again to wrap around his waist. Cameron held onto his arm and his shoulder and sighed. Joe fucked her at a slow and steady pace, finally breaking eye contact and closing his eyes almost painfully. Her body was made so small, he thought if maybe he could break her from the inside. Every time he slid back in, Cameron’s grip on his shoulder got tighter, and her nails dug more and more into his skin. He wondered when he would do something unexpected like lying on his back to have her ride him or whisper something in her ear. 

‘You can...hm...go faster,’ she said in a low voice.

And to her command, he did, before grabbing one of her small breasts and nuzzling the crook of her neck, groaning and biting hard once. The only thing he could feel was the salt of her skin, the grip on his shoulder and her wetness. All the times she teased him for nothing, all the times she made him angry, all the times she snapped and left, he felt like moments like these made them okay again. For all the times she cried about her father, for all the times he cried about his mother, for all the tragedies. Cameron wanted to be close to someone, to anyone. Joe just happened to be the person, right now, who was kissing her and running his hands across her pale figure.

*

They lay in bed later, under the sheets, both breathing quietly, Cameron on her side, her back to Joe who rested his head under four pillows. He slept like that.  
‘I think I forgot to put some disks in their envelopes,’ she said in a sleepy voice.  
‘Hm,’ he said.  
‘Now I’m angry.’  
‘And tired. Go to sleep,’ he hushed.


	2. Chapter two

A house. Filled with machines. A little bit of a buzz going around. It was a sound Cameron knew and loved and felt comfortable with. It was late and everyone had left an hour ago. Donna always left last because she always felt the need to clean up after the others but Cameron practically ordered her to go home. She didn’t care about a mess. She cared about what she was doing. Creating the future. She loved knowing that things she did right now would have an effect on future generations. Sometimes late in the night, when the coders were gone, she played games. She’d always loved video games.   
Cameron walked through the desks and back to the kitchen, placing her mug of tea on the counter. No one knew she drank tea. It was so domestic of her.

‘Knock-knock.’

She jumped a little, since a knock was the last thing she expected. There was a car, a dirty and rusty truck. Cameron took a chance and went to the door slowly. Something in her eyes changed.

‘Joe?’ 

She almost slammed the door back but all of what had happened was from the past. The least she could do was let him say his mind.

‘I’m...’ he started. ‘I wanted to know what it looked like.’

‘What what looked like?’ she almost snapped.

‘Mutiny.’

She brought a finger to her mouth, wondering what she was supposed to say. This was so weird. ‘It’s past midnight you know?’ she said.

‘Oh I knew you’d be up.’

Her lips couldn’t help but twist into a tiny smile and she spaced herself from the doorway to let him inside. 

‘Tea?’ she asked.

He walked behind her to the kitchen and he frowned. ‘Tea?’

‘Yeah? You want some?’

‘Oh. Sure.’ Miss Howe. Who drinks tea. Well that was new.

The kettle was set on the stove and she got out another mug and some green tea. Joe looked like he was wondering where to sit.

‘To be honest I usually sit on the floor. All the tables are taken by computers so...’ 

The tea was ready and she sat on the floor by the counter with him. His hair was longer, shaggy even, he seemed as if he had not shaved in a couple of days. He looked tired, but nice. He always looked nice. Cameron used to think it was because of his nice clothes, but it was him. Joe Macmillan. He always looked very good.   
He looked at her. Her hair was longer, her roots were obviously dark brown. It made him wonder what she looked like without the blond. She looked sad. She always kind of did. The oversized t-shirt she wore was black with a washed out logo and went down to her mid thigh. She’d lost weight. Joe looked at her frail legs and went back to her eyes. 

‘Good tea,’ he noted out loud after a few sips.

She nodded curtly. ‘Um...This is it by the way. This is mutiny.’ She gestured around. ‘Our kitchen. Everyone eats pizza here. I have a policy where no food or drinks are allowed near the computers.’

That made him laugh. 

‘How many of you are there?’

‘Oh, they come and go. We’re like 38 solid. Yoyo and Donna are the only ones who are here every day,’ she explained.

‘I’m sorry I made you feel bad and I’m sorry I let you down. I’m sorry,’ he said, quickly cutting her off.

Her eyes dropped to her hands, fiddling in her lap. She shook her head, looking back and him. ‘No...I’m the one who was full of shit. I should never have told you those things. I was angry and I felt awful.’

Joe put the cup on the floor to rub his forehead. 

‘But you know, that doesn’t mean I’m not still mad at you.’ She looked at him straight in the eye for a moment. ‘Which I am by the way.’

‘I understand.’ Oh and then he realized. He loved her. He might not care or want anything back but he loved her in the only way he could.


	3. Chapter three

Cameron moaned in his mouth one final time and pushed him off her while he ran a hand through his hair. 

‘Do you want me to get extensions tomorrow?’ he breathed.

She turned her head to look at him. ‘Hm?’

‘For the new cables you need to attach,’ he explained.

‘Oh. Yeah, thanks.’

They lay on the white sheets she had just cleaned. They were her sheets. Her bed. This was weird. They breathed slowly and deeply. On her side, she was trying to awknoweledge what had just happened. They were just talking about Mutiny and she felt a weird wave of excitement in her spine and her lips clashed with his. They were the same. Just like when they last embraced each other. Now she felt strange. Not good or bad. Joe felt like everything was okay. Everything was the way it should be.  
But neither of them knew what to say.

Then, Cameron made up her mind.

‘I want to...Um...Talk about this. Not the other shit. This, right now.’

He propped himself on his forearm. ‘Okay.’

‘What the fuck, honestly,’ she said to him.

He frowned. ‘Uh...’

‘Why are you here, really? Why do you care?’

He didn’t know what she meant. ‘Don’t get all angry please.’

‘Fine, but what? You wanted to see me?’

‘I wanted to see you. Donna, Gordon, how things were going after all the things that have happened.’

She nodded. ‘And you’re not gonna talk about where you were. Or you’ll lie about it.’ This wasn’t going anywhere. Fuck it.

He shrugged.

She smiled and he didn’t know why. 

‘I want to be with you,’ Cameron thought. No. No, she wasn’t that easy. He couldn’t have her.

Joe came closer to her. She didn’t move, lying still. He kissed her, slowly and gently, as if he was afraid to hurt her. His tongue slipped into her mouth and he pulled away for a second to look at her. He kissed her cheek, then the other, her chin, her nose, her forehead, her jaw. He touched her breast.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked her.

‘I’m not doing anything!’ she laughed.

‘I like these,’ he said, running his thumb on her nipple. He felt her skin shiver.

Cameron closed her eyes and felt his mouth on her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading y'all!


End file.
